The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. - Ayn Rand

Liberty is an inherently offensive lifestyle. Living in a free society guarantees that each one of us will see our most cherished principles and beliefs questioned and in some cases mocked. That psychic discomfort is the price we pay for basic civic peace. It's worth it. It's a pragmatic principle. Defend everyone else's rights, because if you don't there is no one to defend yours. --MaxedOutMama

The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them.--Moshe Ben-David

The cult of the left believes that it is engaged in a great apocalyptic battle with corporations and industrialists for the ownership of the unthinking masses. Its acolytes see themselves as the individuals who have been "liberated" to think for themselves. They make choices. You however are just a member of the unthinking masses. You are not really a person, but only respond to the agendas of your corporate overlords. If you eat too much, it's because corporations make you eat. If you kill, it's because corporations encourage you to buy guns. You are not an individual. You are a social problem. --Sultan Knish

All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war. --Billy Beck

Monday, October 31, 2016

If you're unfamiliar with Brad Thor (I was), he is the author of technothrillers such as his most recent novel Foreign Agent. He was interviewed by Reason's Nick Gillespie on current political events (and his new novel). Today's QotD comes at 25:40 of the interview:

I'm a big believer of Federalism. There's too much going on in Washington, it's too disconnected, and we ought to be making decisions... I moved to Tennessee because I didn't like the decisions in Illinois. I mean, if the states are the laboratories of democracy, Illinois' a fricken' meth lab.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

I discovered in 2003 that the state of New Jersey had outlawed the original Marlin Model 60 .22 caliber rifle as an "assault weapon" because its tubular magazine held "more than 10 rounds." Now New York City has done something similar, but it's magazine capacity limit is five. And they're serious about it:

The only effective use of a firearm registry is to make it easier to take guns away from the law abiding.

Klingons: "You Vulcans are a bunch of stuffy prisses, but you're also tougher, stronger and smarter than humans in every single way. Why do you let them run your Federation?"

VSA: "Look, this is a species where if you give them two warp cores they don't do experiments on one and save the other for if the first one blows up. This is a species where if you give them two warp cores, they will ask for a third one, immediately plug all three into each other, punch a hole into an alternate universe where humans subscribe to an even more destructive ideological system, fight everyone in it because they're offended by that, steal their warp cores, plug those together, punch their way back here, then try to turn a nearby sun into a torus because that was what their initial scientific experiment was for and they didn't want to waste a trip.

"They did that last week. We have the write-up right here. It's getting published in about six hundred scientific journals across two hundred disciplines because of how many established theories their ridiculous little expedition has just called into question. Also, they did turn that sun into a torus, and no one actually knows how.

"This is why we let them do whatever the hell they want."

Klingons: "...Can we be part of your Federation?"

Hat's off to "roachpatrol," the author of that bit. That's funny right there, I don't care who you are... And the rest of the thread is as well. Especially:

There is a phrase in Vulcan for "the particular moment when you understand what the word 'fuck' is for."

Should the British have the right to carry firearms in self defence like the Americans who have that right? I think Britain would be better off.

I responded:

Should they have the right? I think, personally, that it should never have been taken from them in the first place - but it was. However, there’s more than just the right involved. With rights come responsibilities, and Jonathan Phillpotts’ answer illustrates this very well. Because the British lost this right so long ago, by and large they no longer have the mental attitude necessary to exercise it. The Britain of the Tottenham Outrage no longer exists.

JP: I disagree. It's not that we don't have the mindset to use firearms in our own defence. If our history had parralled yours I would be voicing my whole hearted support for concealed carry. However what my original post is trying to convey is that we have a very different outlook as countries because we have very different histories. We can walk around in our daily life without even considering people around us are carrying. You can't. That very difference is why you need your guns, and we don't, to feel safe.

Different mindsets and actions leading to the same feeling of security.

KB: Most defensive gun uses here are against people not armed with a firearm. In the UK this would be considered a “not proportional” response.

Section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967, provides that “A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime…” and the question of reasonableness is subject to the amplifications contained in such cases as R v McInnes and R v Palmer. It has been held that "if a jury thought that in a moment of unexpected anguish a person attacked had only done what he honestly and instinctively thought was necessary, that would be most potent evidence that only reasonable defensive action had been taken." Normally only reasonable force is acceptable but if in the unexpected anguish of the moment excessive force is used it may still be acceptable, if the defendant honestly and instinctively believed it was necessary. It has been long established (prior to either the Criminal Law Act 1967 s 3 or AIDS) that a woman may take the life of a man attempting to rape her, though she may not generally carry a weapon to achieve this.

I ask you: How is a woman to resist to the point of lethality a sexual assault against a (most probably larger, stronger) man without a weapon?

No, you don’t have to worry about considering other people around you carrying. Guns. What about Knives? Chisels? Multiple assailants? What if you’re disabled or with your kids and you can’t run?

In the UK the law requires a “proportionate response.” This is insane. It asks the assault victim to read the mind of his (or her) attacker, to ask the question of whether that person or persons intends to inflict bodily injury or possibly death so that they can respond proportionally. And the victim’s actions will be judged by a dispassionate court after the fact. That mentality exists throughout your population - that’s how it ended up in law. I’d say the overwhelming majority of gun owners in the UK don’t believe in using a firearm defensively given my interaction with a number of Brits on the subject.

The American mindset (and law) is considerably different, and well described by this quotation from Col. Jeff Cooper:

"One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that 'violence begets violence.' I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure — and in some cases I have — that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy."

JP: I can’t deny anything you have said. Especially proportionate response, or reasonable force as it’s called over here, that law, in it’s execution, is a joke. However that doesn’t justify this country arming itself. All that would do is increase the amounts of problems, not reduce them. See the likelihood of being stabbed or assaulted is very low and mostly they just want your wallet or phone. Hardly worth killing, or worse being killed, over. Raise the stakes and the robberies get more violent as the criminal is even more nervous than before. Not to mention that without the right level of training you're more likely to have the gun taken off you by multiple assailants.

All of that being said; I would like the ability to defend myself (not necessarily with guns though) and have the law back me up if I needed to do so, but that isn’t how our country works. It puts the presumption of guilt on to a person carrying a weapon and wants the Police to enforce the law. And let’s not forget that the majority of our police aren’t even armed with firearms and they actively seek out criminals. If they don’t need guns then the vast majority of civilians don’t either.

I concluded in 2012 when the Republicans nominated Mitt Romney and then the voters reelected Barack Obama that the public education system had exceeded its Progressive mission and produced a majority electorate unwilling or unable to rub two brain cells together, and the United States as we knew it was essentially finished. It was my hope that what Aaron Clarey terms "the Decline," what Billy Beck terms "the Endarkenment," would at least be slowed by avoiding this outcome, but it is not to be. Iceberg? What iceberg? All Ahead, Flank!

So I am free to vote "None of the Above." And I won't feel the need to shower with battery acid and a Brillo pad afterwards.

Robert Heinlein wrote, “The worst thing about living in the declining era of a great civilization is knowing that you are.” Sometimes I really wish I drank alcohol.

As Professor Reynolds is fond of saying, "Something that can’t go on forever, won’t. Debts that can’t be repaid, won’t be. Promises that can’t be kept, won’t be. Plan accordingly." Yeah. Our "austerity riots" are going to be spectacular.

Plan accordingly.

UPDATE, 10/14/16: Scott Adams concurs, for the same reason. And he's been predicting a Trump landslide for months.

I have stated from very early in the history of this blog that America's public education system is responsible for the mess we're in right now, and that it cannot be "reformed." (See the posts on the left sidebar under "Education.") The phrase I've used is "Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure."

I've been challenged on that, asked "What do we replace it with?" I think this guy has figured it out. Worth your 20 minutes.

Saturday, October 01, 2016

Minnesota will let the health insurers in its Obamacare market raise rates by at least 50 percent next year, after the individual market there came to the brink of collapse, the state’s commerce commissioner said Friday.

The increases range from 50 percent to 67 percent, Commissioner Mike Rothman’s office said in a statement. Rothman, who regulates the state’s insurers, is an appointee under Governor Mark Dayton, a Democrat. The rate hike follows increases for this year of 14 percent to 49 percent.

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